Shoe-lace fastener



(No Model.)

H. H. V. LILLEY. SHOE LAGE PASTENBR.

No. 294,054. Patented Feb. 26, I1884.

N. PETERS, nwmumawfm; wmmgww n c UNITED STATES PATENT @Erica HUGH H. V. LILLEY, OF MILFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOE-LACE FASTENER.

.SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 294,054, dated February 26, 1884.

Application filed July 9, 1883. (No model.)

T all whom imag concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH H. V. LILLEY, of Milford, county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in lShoe-Lace Fasteners, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the pro- Io duction of a simple, durable and efficient fastening for a shoe lacing or string, whereby the latter may be quickly fastened and held securely, the device being applicable for' use with shoes having eyelets or lacing-hooks.

I 5 My invention consists, essentially, in a clamp-like fastener adapted to be applied to a shoe string or lacing, and having a springfinger, between which and the main body of the string -or lacing on which the clamp is 2o placed another part of the string or lacing nearer its free end may be drawn. In this my invention the fastener is made movable upon the string or lacing, to place it near the point where the end of the string or lacing is to be 2 5 fastened.

Figure l represents a shoe laced and provided with one of my improved fasteners. Fig. 2 represents a shoe havingonly lacingstuds at the top, the string or lacing being in 3o such case applied somewhat differently to the fastening. Fig. 3 represents a blank from which my fastening will be made; Fig. 4, one of the fastenings enlarged, and Fig. 5 details of the holder applied to the lowerY end of the 3 5 string or lacing.

The string or lacing a has a holder, b, attached to its lower end, the connection being made, as shown in Fig. 5, by punching two holes through the holder, a small metal plate,

4o leaving a narrow bridge, b, about which the lower end of the shoe-string is bent, the short bight so given the string serving to retain its end in the holder. The end a2 is inserted through eyelet 12 outward, and then in through 4 5 eyelet 13, and thence out, and in the remaining eyelets above them in usual manner, until the string arrives at the lacing-hooks c, about which it is wrapped in usual manner, and my improved fastener is'applied at or near the upper lacing-hooks or the point where the shoe-string is to be secured and held.

My fastener-e is composed of a short cylinder or sleeve, adapted to surround and slide on the shoe-string a, the said fastener having a spring-finger, 2, and preferably a prong, 3, as best shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 3 shows a blank from which my fastener will be made by bending the blank into cylindrical form, the parts to form the springfinger and the prong being marked, respectively, 2 and 3.

Fig. l shows my fastener applied to a shoe having eyelets above the lacing-hooks. In such a shoe the e'nd a of the string, after having been passed into the shoe through the uppermost eyelet, will be drawn under the springnger 2, and between Yit andthe main body of the string a, which is extended through the fastener, and is then drawn under the prong 3,as passing the said string under the prong 3 aids in maintaining the bight of the string under the spring-finger, and keeps the end of the string pointed upward. y l

Some shoes do not have eyelets above the lacing-hooks, but are made at top as in Fig. 2. I Vith this latter class of shoe the fastener is pushed along on the string to occupy the position shown in Fig. 2, just between the uppermost hooks, and the string wound about the last hook will be drawn under the springiinger, and may thereafter be drawn or not under the prong 3.

The prong 3 may be omitted from the fastener; but I prefer to retain it, as its use is beneficial in most instances, and especially so when the shoe-string does not fill the tubular or central part of the fastener.

l. As an improved article of manufacture, a Shoestring or lacing fastener composed of a 9o tubular part adapted to surround the shoe string or lacing, and provided with a springfinger, between which and the string or lacing in the said fastener a part of the said string or lacing may be drawn to effectually secure said 9 5 string or lacing in position, substantially as described.

2. rlhe combination, with a shoe string or in testimony whereof I have signed my name 1o to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

HUGH H. V. LILLEY.

lacing, of fastener, e, applied thereto, oomm posed of :L tubular perl5, a sprng-inger, and a prong, to operante substantially as described.

3. A shoe String or lacing provided at one end with 2i holder, b, applied thereto, com bined with the fastener e, provided with elle spring-finger, and applied directly to the said i Witnesses: string or lacing where the same is 'to be fasbl CT. XV. GREGORY, eiued, substantially is described. J. NOYES- 

